Chapter 2 – New chapter, old characters… (part 1)

Tuesday

Zoe was lying awake in bed when her alarm began to go off. She huffed and rolled onto her side to see Max still lying asleep. She leant over him to grab her phone and stopped the alarm before putting her head back down on Max's bare chest. "Come on, we have to get up or we're going to be late again and I cannot cope with Guy on my back again…" she said tapping Max's chest.

"Do we have to? I'm comfy here and I'm sure you are too." He put his arms around Zoe's waist and held her tightly. "Yes I am, but I've got to get in this morning and make some calls about new consultants." Max let Zoe get up so she could shower while he went and made them both a coffee.

Once Zoe was changed she walked downstairs in her heels and figure hugging dress to take the coffee from Max. "I figured you take so long to get ready that I should probably put it into this cup so you could take it with you." Zoe smiled sarcastically before kissing Max. Zoe had her arms around Max's neck and his fell naturally to her waist, pushing her against the counter. Zoe leant back smiling "Okay, we really have to get to work now-" "You're no fun at all." Zoe laughed as she picked her bag up and keys up heading for the door.

They were in early so Zoe drove Max straight into work. "Isn't this a bit risky? You know people seeing us and all…" Zoe just looked forward out of the window before she felt Max's hand on her thigh. "Hey you alright?" Zoe nodded "Max, I don't care much anymore… I want to be with you." Zoe didn't need to look up to see the smile on Max's face due to those words. "But can we wait a few weeks to properly come out with this, I just need to focus on work for a bit until Guy's ready to accept I can do this job." Max leant forward and kissed Zoe before they both got out of the car. "For what it's worth, I think you can do this job…" Max let Zoe walk ahead of him, "And you can pull off a killer dress while doing it." Zoe turned around to see Max watching her and smiling as she bumped into Charlie. "Sorry! I didn't see you there, are you okay?" Charlie smiled "I'm fine Zoe, I can see your attention was on other things…" Max walked past laughing as Zoe stood rolling her eyes. Let the fun begin she thought.

Zoe went into the staffroom and bumped into Connie. "Hey, everything okay?" Over the past year, Zoe and Connie had grown closer and were finally getting along. "Sorry, yes. Grace is home again, I'm just tired." Zoe smiled and rested an arm on her friends back "That's good news! I'm a phone call away if you ever need someone to look after Grace for a bit." Connie smiled and nodded "Thank you Zoe, anyway what's this about you and Max anyway? I saw you two arriving together this morning… I thought you weren't seeing him anymore?" Zoe smiled and noticed him standing at the nurses' station through the window. "Well, for some reason I couldn't be without him-" "That's a feeling I know too well. Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I had another chance with Grace's father, actually showed him I cared." Zoe smiled at Connie as they wandered out of the room, "who knows, maybe one day you will."

It was nearing 12 o'clock and Zoe was due to meet someone in reception for an interview. As soon as that was over, she planned on making some calls about consultants coming into the department as soon as they could. She had settled on a few to meet with and then go from there. Guy had provided her with some previous staff details too, and she had decided she would use one of them. Zoe was so wrapped up in thoughts she almost missed the knocking on her door. "Dr Hanna… Someone for you in reception." She got up and walked out with Noel to meet her new nurse.

The ED had been quiet all morning and running considerably well in comparison to other weeks. "So what do you think has made Zoe go all commander on us? I mean it's good, but she's a woman on a mission!" Tess laughed at Ethan's mild description of their clinical lead before answering. "Guy's been putting pressure on the department and she wants to prove it's better than they say it is. You won't hear me complaining if we finally get more staff!"

Back in reception Zoe noticed who she was looking for. "Excuse me… This is Dr-" "Hanna… I do know, thank you Noel. It's been a long time Dr Hanna, were you going to ever call?" Zoe smiled as she wandered over and hugged her old colleague. "You could have always phoned me! It's good to see you, how is everyone?" They walked towards Zoe's office and went inside. Charlie noticed them and turned to Rita "Is that Zoe with-" "Yup, he's being 'interviewed' for a nursing position… He's basically got it in the bag but protocol and all."

Zoe was filling out some paperwork with the new member of staff when Tess knocked on the office door. "RTC estimated 10 minutes, we're going to need everyone we can get for this one." Zoe nodded and finished signing the contract "Okay I'll be right out." Zoe turned around as the other man got up to leave. "Catch-" she through some scrubs towards the new nurse "No time like the present… If you're ready that it is." He smiled a warm smile before nodding "Course I am, always ready." Tess smiled "It's good to see you again-" "Good to be back Tess… I'll be out in a minute!"

The trauma was dealt with quickly by all the staff and everything settled back down. Many staff had had a quick encounter with the new nurse, many of them already knowing each other. Zoe felt as though she should make an official announcement to everyone though. "Can I get everyone's attention quickly…" Everybody went quiet and gathered around the desks knowing what she was going to say already. "I know a lot of you have already met him today, and many of us have the pleasure of knowing him before today but I just wanted to introduce you properly. This is Jay Faldren and he's a new nurse here…"